Sewers of Babel

I watched Chávez’s speech in the office of a public building. The secretaries were all cheering Chávez as he spoke the words. Later, a respected lawyer told me he didn’t see any difference between Bush’s designating countries and their leaders as part of the “axis of evil” and Chávez’s calling Bush a devil. A labor leader felt the talk was excellent and necessary.

Previously I commented on CNN's coverage of Chavez's speech. I was further saddened by Lou Dobbs' adding himself to the dissmissive diatribe against the statements of Chavez concerning imperialism and devil-like qualities of the W. Here is Chavez:

I'm quoting [George W. Bush], "Anywhere you look, you hear extremists telling you can escape from poverty and recover your dignity through violence, terror and martyrdom." Wherever he looks, he sees extremists. And you, my brother—he looks at your color, and he says, oh, there's an extremist. Evo Morales, the worthy president of Bolivia, looks like an extremist to him. The imperialists see extremists everywhere. It's not that we are extremists. It's that the world is waking up. It's waking up all over. And people are standing up.

What Chaves said in relation to Bush at the U.N. General Assembly strikes me as a moment of audacity that should be investigated and not dismissed out of hand. It is not as if Hugo Chavez does not have the power and capacity to effect the lives of the average U.S. citezen. A renegade president who dismisses the U.N. and undermines it at every turn would do well to hear the laughter on the floor, every person in the west should be aware that only an oblique reference to the devil elicited thoughts of George W. Bush. Our future ought be determined by dialogue, summarily dismissing an influential leader of a growing block of countries seems irresponsible to me. Bring everyone back to the table, discuss. Make deals, make peace. The same types of compromises that make the U.S. Constitution a viable excercise, need be thought of at this moment in history. Dialogue must be broadened across the spectrum, polemic is no longer acceptable. Perhaps I expect too much of Chavez and the rest of humanity, but I think I could work it out with a good talk. Chavez too is guilty of being incindiary and abrassive, alas. CNN Inform us why these people make these statements, tell us who laughed, and ask them why they did, report that.

“The Americans are masters at gathering intelligence, but they don’t know what to do with it”

Another great spy lost to eternity . . .

Some women were raped. We heard about this, but only those who are not married can talk about it. We believe that nobody can become pregnant when raped, because you cannot have a child from unwanted sex. The women in the camps in Darfur, those whom they rape day and night—they might become pregnant. Then only Allah can help the child to look like the mother. If an Arab child is born, this cannot be accepted.

It is cheap to get married now. You are lucky if you find somebody for your daughter to marry. And the age of the girls is going down—they are very young now. The families are happy to get rid of their daughters, especially in a refugee camp, where there is no control over the girls. Girls are more difficult because you have to take care of their honor, and they are more expensive. For boys you need only soap.
—M., a male refugee from Kenyu

For more quotes from refugees follow the title link.

I would like to express my dissappointment with CNN's coverage of the recent speeches made by the leaders of Iran and Venezuela. I am an absolute media whore, I am watching or have watched every major series put out by major media outlets for the last couple of years and watching CNN is a kind of perverse pleasure I have allowed myself for some time. My friends Kerinth included have expressed some alarm at the amount of time I give to CNN despite its looping repetition.

Tonight I was more dissappointed than I have ever been at CNN and specifically their coverage of today's speeches. while Bolton is calling Hugo Chavez's comments "comic book," and Condoleeza Rice concurs, what anyone on the floor of the U.N.(or listening to CNN's broadcast)can hear, Chavez's comments about the President of the United States elicited laughter from the general assembly. The fact that Chavez clearly struck a chord with the assembly by refering to Bush as the devil is evident in the fact that laughter errupted from the crowd, and that they knew of whom he was speaking before he said so points to a realistic and growing concern of Americans, that President Bush has undermined the U.N. and more certainly, the role of the U.S. in the U.N.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in his speech was largely concilliatory and avoided major points of contention yes when Anderson Cooper (son of Gloria Vanderbuilt) Interviewed him he focused on the fact that Ahmadinejad has stated that he diputes the veracity of the holocaust as a means of undermining him. Ahmadinejad made the rational argument that regarless of the holocaust the displacement of five million Palestinians was and is unjust. Cooper switched gears and moved to the next question. Wolf Blitzer too was dismissive of Ahmadinejad and Chavez, and followed the republican party line closely.

By way of comparison, Bill Clinton's views on Chavez's speech made more sense, he took a more moderate position and expressed his reservations about Chavez's speech in terms of regret that Chavez was not more cautious seeing Chavez's comments as unfortunate rather than comical. Clinton was not dismissive regardless.

If we were all to honestly weigh Bush's calling Iran and North Korea among others an, "Axis of Evil" or calling the conflict in the world now a "Crusade," (yes he apologized, but as we see with the current issue with the Pope, apologies are often not enough and no simple statement replaces a dialogue) how bad is it really that Bush should be called the devil in a relatively lighthearted fashion? Yes Chavez followed his jokes with some expected critique of the U.S. but then, was it irrational for him to do so?

To Wolf Blitzer and Anderson Cooper, I ask that you not be so overwhelmed by the magnitude of a day's guests that you lose focus, as I see it there are few media outlets even striving for objectivity today and seeing both of you mimic the dismissive response of Rice and Bolton saddens me. Some of what these human beings are saying is worth listening to. There is nothing wrong with Ahmadinejad calling for a debate with Bush, it is a conversation that might truly benifit the Middleeast and U.S. interests there. Isn't it possible the leaders here might like to see some engagement in person (and not perpetually through secondary agents) with the U.S. President?

North Korea and Iran pursuing nuclear programs, regarless of their statements {Seoul as a sea of flames, or Israel wiped of the map) concerning their neighbors in thier respective regions, are not irrational positions for their countries. Isn't it the case that nations seeking nuclear programs are really just seeking a seat at the adult's table in world affairs?

Generally I have been and will remain a fan of CNN and both Blitzer and Cooper, but this was not in my opinion your best night gentlemen.

I want it known I am a patriot and if that was not so I would not care enough to raise my voice at all.

FORT EUSTIS -- Months before the United States invaded Iraq in 2003, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld forbade military strategists from developing plans for securing a post-war Iraq, the retiring commander of the Army Transportation Corps said Thursday.

Officials from Cuba, North Korea, Iran, Syria, Venezuela, and 100 or more other countries are to meet in Cuba. Their reason for gatehering is to further define the term terrorism, and very likely to implicate U.S. foriegn policy as a major cause of the perpetuity of terrorist attacks. From the title link:

"I would not say that the draft has very strong elements ... They are simply the NAM principles of international law, principles contained in the UN Charter," Deputy Foreign Minister Moreno said this week. In a clear reference to the US, Moreno added that anyone who considers the draft too strong disagrees with the principles of international law.

Weighing in at this meeting:

North Korea

Kim Jong-il

Correction: Kim Jong Il sent a representative.

Iran

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Venezuela

Hugo Chavez

Syria

President Assad

Cuba

Fidel Castro

Believe it or not it has!

The face of the devil has changed.

The handsome well dressed devil of the past is no more. The devil is individuated in the devilish ability to shift forms according to one source:

Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.

To wit:

The devil of today wears the mask of a fool or a priest, but is neither. You will know the devil; you will tell the devil apart. The devil will wield intangible worms. Numbstruck minds will siphon raw image data repetition ad infinitum in the presence of the All Infectious meme of the powers of the air. Like Christ you will believe in the devil without touching the devil. There will be no room for doubt of the devil; the devil will be guarded always and need only wave a hand to obsfucate at will. The devil's many faces will fit awkwardly or righteously, but the devil will wield power over life and death. A higher purpose will follow the devil like a stink. A joke, or a cuteness, or a fall, will humanize the devil, but the devil stumbles not. This devil need not wear a certain garb, but must always posture.

The devil will be no great diplomat, but machination makers will press the devil; grave words will echo in all the mountains and valleys. The devil need not conspire to sin, but is sin itself. Fantastic acts of destruction will follow the devil, and rumors of even more fantastic ills will pervade. The devil will defy reason, and will not shrink in the presence of the objects of faith, niether will the devil recoil from graven images, nay the devil will weild them, moved or unmoved in the symbol's cause, the devil will reek of misplaced faith. The devil will reign nations to rise and draw the sun across the sky by the power of peoples, and ever will burn all on which the devil's eyes shall rest. The devil IS whether or not the devil thinks. The devil needs no gender or class or species or life form, but is and is and is. The devil needs only a vessel, absorb, or exist.